Earthquake
by Chestyr
Summary: After an earthquake destroys most of Sacramento, Louis, Tawny, and Ren are left to put together the pieces of what happened to their families, and have to pull together as they face the fact that life will never be the same again. FINISHED 8/6!
1. Falling Apart

**Earthquake**

"This is not a test.  Attention Sacramento citizens:  This is a warning of the emergency system.  An earthquake struck Central California at 4:58 a.m. this Saturday, October 18.  At least two hundred are dead and several thousand injured.  The severity of the earthquake on the Richter scale has not yet been determined.  Most major power lines are down and are not expected to be running again for at least a week.  This is not a test."

The automated message crackled over the radio as sunlight brushed across Louis' face.  He opened his eyes and glanced at Tawny, who was lying next to him, sleeping soundly.  The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in Tawny's room after the movie they were watching had ended.  Louis sat up and rubbed his eyes, absentmindedly shutting off the radio, which served as Tawny's alarm clock.  "Tawny?" he whispered.  "Tawn?"

Tawny rolled over and slowly sat up.  "What is it?" she asked.  "What time is it?"

Louis glanced at his watch.  "It's almost seven."

"Ohhhh."  Tawny moaned and flipped the covers back over her head.  "Wake me in an hour."

Louis reached over to Tawny's desk and picked up the remote control to her TV.  He pressed the "On" button.  Nothing happened.  Crossing to the other side of the room, he attempted to turn on the lights.  Again, nothing.  "We must have a power outage," Louis said to himself, and turned on Tawny's battery-powered radio to see if any outages had been reporter.

"This is not a test," the radio repeated.  "Attention Sacramento citizens:  This is a warning of the emergency system.  An earthquake struck Central California at 4:58 a.m."

Louis perked up at the word "earthquake."

"Tawny," he said, shaking Tawny gently.  "Listen to this."

Tawny pulled herself to a sitting position and turned toward the radio.

"At least two hundred are dead and several thousand injured."

"Oh my God, Louis," said Tawny, "they're talking about Sacramento."

Louis let out a nervous laugh.  "Yeah, but I mean, how could they be?  If there had been an earthquake we would have felt it, right?"

Tawny pulled open her curtains and sunlight streamed into the room.  "Oh..." was all Louis heard her say before she backed away from the window.

Louis peered outside.  Rubble covered the ground.  The two enormous trees in the yard across the street were lying sideways, blocking what was left of the road.  Half of the houses on the block were crumbled to almost nothing, and telephone wires showered sparks into the air.  Numerous pieces of refuse and debris covered nearly every inch of the street and sidewalk.  "We gotta get out of here."

Tawny's voice trembled.  "Where do we go?"

"I don't know.  Out," said Louis, who was already sprinting down the stairs into Tawny's living room.  A few of the pictures on the walls had fallen to the floor and shattered, but nothing seemed to be severely damaged.  Even the note that Mrs. Dean had left for Tawny with emergency numbers before she and Mr. Dean went out of town for a psychology convention was still posted on the wall.  Tawny followed Louis and took hold of his hand.  He pulled open the front door.

"Louis..." Tawny choked out.

There was no visible pathway leading out the Deans' front door.  An overturned car that Louis didn't recognize lay in the driveway, and some sort of dog house was in two pieces in the yard.

"We'll go out the window in your room," said Louis.

Back upstairs in Tawny's room, Louis opened the window and helped Tawny climb down the ladder he had constructed years ago in order to gain access to her room.  He followed her and jumped to the ground.  The side of the house was littered with paper and glass bottles from the Deans' recycling bin, but at least it could be kicked aside.

The two stood for a few seconds and stared at the destruction before them.  Only about eight houses on Tawny's side of the street seemed not to have sustained damage.  Throughout the rest of the neighborhood nearly all the houses had been completely destroyed.

Louis led the way down the block towards his house, trying to push the negative thoughts out of his head.  Tawny's foot crunched over something and she bent down and picked up a picture of a family, its glass matting cracked and its frame half torn off.  As she stared at it her eyes began welling up.  Louis pried it out of her hands and threw it to the side.  "Just don't think."

A walk that normally would have taken five minutes took nearly half an hour.  As Louis arrived at the spot where his house was supposed to be, he choked up.  Tawny let out a sob.  The lot where the house had once stood was virtually unrecognizable, except for a few pieces of identifiable materials that were scattered about the yard.

"We have to call Ren," Louis whispered.

Ren was currently attending Michigan State University.  There were never earthquakes in Michigan.  Louis tightened his fist.

"How?" asked Tawny, tears spilling from her eyes.

Louis sat down in the place where his driveway had once been.  "I don't know," he said, burying his head in his hands.

"Look, Louis."  Tawny sat beside him and clutched both of his hands in hers.  "Maybe they got out."

"Yeah.  Yeah," said Louis, but it didn't sound convincing.

"We'll find a phone and we'll call my parents and Ren," said Tawny.  "To let them know we're okay.  All right?"  

"Yeah," Louis repeated.  He looked at Tawny, his eyes glazed over.  She leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Louis...it'll be okay."

Louis shrugged.  "No..." he stared, but Tawny pulled him into a hug, shushing him.  He leaned his head into her neck and thought of the absurdity of the two of them sitting there, barefoot, in pajamas, in the middle of a deserted city.  They sat there, gripping each other for life, for hours, and neither of them would let go.

**More to come...**


	2. Picking Up Pieces

**Earthquake – Chapter Two**

"Are you two kids okay?"

Louis glanced up at the police officer standing over him and quickly stood up.  Tawny had fallen into a sort of dazed sleep on the sidewalk, and Louis didn't want to disturb her.

"I...I need to call my sister," Louis told the officer.  He swallowed.  "And find out where my family is."

"If you tell me the names of your family members I can try to contact them," the officer offered.  He extended his hand.  "I'm Officer Franklin Drake."

"Louis Stevens," said Louis.  "My parents are Steve and Eileen Stevens.  My...my brother Donnie was visiting from Texas.  He would have been with them."

Officer Drake picked removed his walkie-talkie from his belt and reported the names of the Stevens family into it.  A few minutes later a second voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.  Officer Drake turned to Louis and said, "Your family isn't on either of our lists."

"What kind of lists?" Louis, who had resumed his position next to Tawny, wanted to know.

"Our first one is a list of people who reported to the crisis shelter," Officer Drake informed him, "and our second list is people who have been confirmed dead."

Louis inhaled a deep, shaky breath and tried to smile in gratitude, but his head swam with the possibilities of where his family was.  

"Where do you live, son?" Officer Drake asked.  "You can come to the shelter if you want.  Is this your sister?"  He gestured to Tawny.

Louis shook his head.  "She's my friend.  I was staying at her house."  He didn't want to tell Officer Drake that the remains of his house were just several feet away.  What if the police officer inspected the site and found the dead bodies of his parents and brother?  Louis decided to change the subject.  "I need to contact my sister.  She's in Michigan."

Tawny slowly sat up and looked around for a few seconds, almost as if she had forgotten everything that had happened within the last few hours.  Then it all came rushing back to her.  "Louis, is everything okay?"

"I don't know," said Louis.

"If you come to the police station we might be able to get a hold of your sister with our makeshift phone lines," said Officer Drake.  "It's only a few miles away, but you'll have to walk."

"Let's go, Tawny," said Louis.

The two followed Officer Drake through a semi-cleared path leading to a small police station.  At least a hundred people were crowding the building, inside and out, sobbing, trying to get food, trying to contact their families...

Officer Drake motioned to a place on the sidewalk for Louis and Tawny to sit and then disappeared inside the station.  A few minutes later he came out holding assorted junk food and offered it to the two of them, telling them that it might be a few hours before they could contact Ren.  They accepted the food and thanked him.

"God, how could I think about eating now?" Tawny said, almost to herself, as she opened a bag of potato chips.

"It's okay.  All of your family is fine," said Louis, his voice slightly bitter.

"Louis."  Tawny looked him in the eyes.  "I promise you, everything's going to be okay.  My family's probably freaking out right now because they're out of town and they don't know what happened to me.  I'm sure your parents and Donnie are looking for you."

Officer Drake emerged once more from the building.  "You're in luck," he told Louis.  "Your sister's on the line.  Called one of the emergency numbers that out-of-town residents are supposed to call."  He escorted Louis and Tawny into the building, pushing their way through the mass of people assembled there, and handed Louis one of the phones, punching in the appropriate line number.

"Louis!" Ren shrieked into the phone.  Louis could hardly hear her voice over the shouts of the other people in the station.  "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Louis told her.  "I was at Tawny's house."

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Ren asked.

"We...we don't know," Louis informed her.

"Oh," said Ren flatly.

"Ren," Louis started, a lump forming in his throat.  "I'm really glad you called.  I love you."

The other end was silent.  

Louis held the mouthpiece on the phone and turned to Tawny.  "Do you think you could talk to her or something?"

Tawny took the phone.  "Ren, hi, it's Tawny," she stated.  "Yeah...we're fine.  No, my parents were on vacation.  Don't worry.  Oh.  Okay.  Okay, here's Louis."  She began to hand the phone over to Louis and then put it back to her ear.  "Oh.  Yeah, I understand.  All right.  See you."  She placed the phone back on the receiver and told Louis, "She said to tell you that she's taking the first flight she can get to San Francisco and then see if she can drive in to meet us.  She said most of the flights were booked so it might be a few days."

Louis nodded slightly.

"Look, Louis, do you want to go back to my house?" Tawny asked him.  "Just being here is kind of freaking me out."

"This is the only place my family will be able to contact me," Louis insisted.

"Yeah, but didn't your parents know you were at my place?"

Louis shrugged.  "They won't be thinking about that."

"Oh, thank God," Louis heard behind him.  He turned around to see Officer Drake guiding Donnie toward him.

"Donnie!"  Louis ran to his brother and flung his arms around his muscular neck.

Donnie pulled back, his eyes wet.  "You heard from Mom and Dad?"

"What?" Louis asked.

"Mom and Dad.  Where are they?  Are they okay?" Donnie was nearly frantic.

"I thought they were with you," said Louis.

Donnie shook his head.  "No, I was..."  He paused for a minute.  "Look, I was partying all night with the guys.  Louis, do you know where they are?"

"No," Louis told him.

"Screw you, man," said Donnie, pushing Louis backwards.

"Hey!" Officer Drake said sharply.  "Calm down."

"Donnie, are you high?" Louis cried.

Donnie picked up a phone and smashed it against the desk that it was sitting on.  An alarmed girl to his left stared in horror.

"Just shut the hell up!" Donnie screamed.  "Just shut up!  I'm trying to find my family, okay?  Where the hell are they?"  He tried to slap Officer Drake but was restrained.

"All right, come here, come with me," Officer Drake told Donnie, grabbing him roughly by the shoulders.

"Where are you taking him?" Louis asked.

"We'll just keep him in a holding area until he settles down," said Officer Drake, and pushed Donnie back through the crowds, trying to talk on his walkie-talkie at the same time.

"Louis, I'm sorry," said Tawny when Donnie was gone.

"Whatever," Louis replied.

"Let's go.  Please.  I can't be in this place anymore."  Tawny stared at the families around her gripping each other in hope, or lone people desperately searching for anyone they knew.

"Fine."  Louis gave in.  He searched around for a police officer and finally found one, instructing her to tell anyone with the last name of Stevens that he could be found at the house of his friend Tawny Dean.

The two trudged back to Tawny's house.  On the way back, Louis asked, "What do you think they'll do with Donnie?"

"I don't know."  Tawny absentmindedly brushed hair from her face.  "He looked pretty shaken up.  I think they'll just try to calm him down.  If they can."

"He's on drugs," said Louis.  "Ever since he didn't make his college basketball team he's been partying practically every night.  He should have been with Mom and Dad.  God."

"I'm sorry," Tawny told him.  It was about the only thing she could say right now.

"So what do we do now?  Just wait?" Louis asked.  "Just wait until everything gets sorted out and cleaned up?  We don't go to school or anything, we just sit around and see how many people turn up dead?  Or alive?"

"I have some food at my house," Tawny pointed out.  "I'm sure we can get more at the police station if we need to.  We'll be okay."

"It'll be okay when Ren gets here," Louis said out loud, trying to convince himself.

"Yeah," Tawny agreed.  She wanted to touch him, to comfort him, but after she had seen what had happened with Donnie she was afraid.

Louis and Tawny climbed back into Tawny's room and sat on her bed.  They were back where they had begun.  Louis only wished that he could have stayed there, in the little corner of his world that hadn't been damaged by the earthquake, and pretended that, just down the block, his family was waiting for them.  But his brother was probably in a jail cell somewhere, his sister wouldn't be arriving for another few days, his parents were missing, Tawny's parents were on vacation, and on the morning of the day after homecoming in his senior year of high school, everything he had ever known had been shattered.  Except for his relationship with Tawny.

And all they could do was wait.

**To be continued...**


	3. Aftershock

**Earthquake – Chapter Three**

"Look," Tawny observed the next morning.  "The power's on."

The lights in her room flickered dimly as she and Louis sat cross-legged on her floor, eating cereal.

The previous night had been scary, with only darkness enfolding Louis and Tawny as they clutched each other in her bed.  Louis slept fitfully until the sun rose, then began pacing the house, waiting to hear news from anyone.  No one had come.

"I need a shower."  Tawny stood up and placed her empty cereal bowl on her dresser.  "Will you be okay here until I get back?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," said Louis.

"Okay.  Um, you can wear some of my dad's clothes if you want to change," Tawny offered.

Louis found a pair of Dr. Dean's pants and fastened a belt tightly around the waist, then threw on one of Tawny's loose t-shirts.  It smelled like strawberries.  As he stood combing his fingers through his hair in front of Tawny's mirror, the phone rang.  Louis stared at it for a second, then lurched for it and picked it up.  "Hello, this is Louis Stevens."

"Louis?"

It was Dr. Dean.

"Oh...hi," said Louis.  "How's Hawaii?"

"Where's Tawny?"

"She's in the shower," Louis replied.

"Have you been staying at our house?"

"Well, yeah," Louis told him.  "My house isn't really here anymore."

"Listen, Louis, your parents tried to call us a few nights ago.  They sounded really concerned," said Dr. Dean.  "But we lost our connection.  I was on my cell phone.  Do you know what they wanted?"

It occurred to Louis that the Deans had no idea what had happened while they were gone.

"Dr. Dean, do you have a radio or a TV set or anything where you are?" Louis asked.

"No, we can only contact people from the hotel, and they only have a few power lines here," Dr. Dean told him.  "We're basically just going with the flow of nature."

"Oh," said Louis.  He didn't want to spoil the rest of their vacation, but he wanted to figure out what had happened to his parents.  "So what did my parents say when they called you?"

"They wanted us to contact you and tell you something, but I'm not sure what it was," said Dr. Dean.  "Oh, well, our time is almost up.  Tell Tawny that my mother and I love her, all right, Louis?  And you two don't get into any trouble."

"Don't worry," Louis assured him before hanging up the phone.

Tawny walked in, covered with only a towel.  When she spotted Louis' makeshift outfit she burst out laughing.  "You realize you're wearing one of my pink shirts?" she asked.  "Geez, I haven't worn that color since I was like, twelve.  I think my mom bought this for me on clearance at the mall."  She stopped when she saw Louis' expression.  "What is it?"

"Your parents just called," said Louis.  "They said that my parents had tried to contact them.  I think it was during the earthquake."

Tawny's face fell.  "Well, did they want to talk to me?"

"They have no idea what happened," Louis continued as Tawny began taking clothes out of her closet to wear.  "I didn't tell them.  When are they coming home?"

"In three days," said Tawny.  She disappeared across the hall into the bathroom and a few minutes later emerged, fully dressed.  "So what's up?"

Louis sat on his bed.  "Maybe they told them that they were taking shelter somewhere and I'm supposed to find them."

"Yeah, maybe," said Tawny.  "Look, Louis, we have to get out of here.  Look at you.  I've never seen you like this."  Her green eyes stared at him sympathetically.

Suddenly the doorbell rang.  Louis and Tawny raced downstairs.  Louis pulled open the door to reveal Ren standing on the other side.  She walked briskly into Tawny's house, setting a small suitcase in the hallway.

"Ren, hi," said Tawny.

"How'd you get here so fast?" asked Louis.

Ren tried to hug Louis and Tawny simultaneously.  "I have to lie down."  She walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch.  "Twenty-four hours of driving from Kansas."

"Kansas?" Tawny cried.

"It was the only straight flight I could get.  I had my roommate's friend who lives there drive me in.  He's staying in Vegas."  Her eyes were glazed over.  "I've had so much caffeine, oh my gosh.  I think it finally wore off.  I can barely see."

Louis and Tawny stared at each other.  First Donnie had turned into a rage machine, and now Ren was a chatterbox.

"Let me get you something," Tawny offered.  She brought Ren a glass of water and a banana from the kitchen.

"Thanks."  Ren sat up.  "So, where is everyone?"

"Donnie is alive," Louis reported.  "I don't know where he is, though.  He was taken away by the police."

Tawny was opening a bottle of medication on the other side of the room.  She handed a pill to Ren.  "Here, take this.  But eat some of the banana first or you'll get sick."

Ren swallowed the pill and ate part of the banana.  "What is this?"

"It's Valium.  My parents always have some around the house in case one of their lunatic patients decides to make a house call.  You need to rest."

Louis led Tawny into the kitchen.  "Why did you do that?" he asked.

"She's displaying signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome," Tawny explained.  "Look, after she wakes up she should be normal again, okay?"  She pulled Louis into a hug.  "Let's get out of here.  Now."

Some of the debris had been cleaned off the street, but most of the neighborhood still resembled a disaster area.

"Come on.  Let's go to the park," said Tawny.

Bad idea.  The "park" was nothing but a jumble of cracked cement and a random tire swing sitting on a bed of asphalt.

"This is really uplifting," Louis commented.

"Oh, look."  Tawny pointed to a tree that was still intact.  "I think I hear actual birds singing over there."  She gave a shy grin.  "Come on, let's go."

The pair made their way over to the tree and Tawny sat down under it.  Louis joined her.

"Tawny," said Louis.  "Did you have fun at the dance?"

"You mean homecoming?" Tawny asked.  "Yeah, why?"

"Because, I don't know, I just thought, you know, it would be special," said Louis.  "And it wasn't, you know, special."

"What do you mean?" Tawny asked.

Louis sighed.  "I thought dances were supposed to be about romance."  He chuckled.  "I guess that's pretty stupid."

"Yeah, actually, it is."  Tawny looked him straight in the eye.  "I really had fun just going home after the dance and watching movies together.  You're different that way.  You're willing to have fun and not be so uptight about things.  Did you see all those girls who didn't make homecoming queen cry?  That was pathetic."  She placed a small flower in Louis' hair.

"I guess," he smiled.

"I love you," said Tawny.

"We've already said the I-love-yous," Louis reminded her.  He pulled her into a kiss.

The ground erupted in tremors, sending Louis skirting backwards.  He rolled onto his side and stood up.  Tawny ran over to him and put her arm around his waist.  After a few seconds it calmed down.

"It was just an aftershock," Tawny breathed.  She suddenly pushed Louis away.  "We shouldn't be thinking about this right now."

"You mean the kiss?" Louis asked.

"Yes.  Just drop it, okay?"  Tawny suddenly seemed angry.

A popping sound made Louis and Tawny turn their heads to look at a telephone wire, erupting in sparks.  A fire quickly spread down the deserted street.

"Great.  Another disaster," Louis said under his breath.

Tawny's eyes widened.  "Oh my gosh!" she cried, as she saw the direction the fire was heading.  "Ren!"

**It's not over yet...**


	4. Sorting Out

**Earthquake – Chapter Four**

Louis pushed himself off the ground and took off full-speed toward Tawny's house.  He knew that there would be no fire department that could get to the scene fast enough.  He didn't even know if there were any operational fire trucks.  He heard the pounding of Tawny's feet behind him.  "Wait, Louis!" she shouted, then tripped and fell.  Louis didn't even glance back but kept running.

Once he arrived at Tawny's house he glanced back to see the fire spreading down the street, engulfing any debris left on the pavement.  He kicked off his shoe and smashed it forcefully into the window.  Nothing happened.  It didn't even crack.  Panicking, Louis looked around for a heavy object and found a small, upturned tree.  With all his might, he dragged the tree off the ground.  The splintered wood sunk into the flesh on his arms.  Wincing in pain and trying not to inhale the smoke that surrounded the house, he rammed the end of the broken tree into the window, shattering the glass, then pushed it aside and hoisted himself through the window and into the Deans' living room.  Ren had been slightly awakened by the glass shattering, and she looked around, dismayed.

"Louis?"

"Ren, we gotta get out of here," said Louis, grabbing his sister's arm and dragging her to a sitting position.  "Come on."

Ren could barely walk, but Louis shoved her through the open window and she lay on the ground, unmoving.  Louis jumped into the yard and helped Ren stand up, putting his arm around her waist, and moved away from the house as fast as he could.  Seconds later, the fire blackened the side of the house and began to creep up to the roof.  Louis didn't want to see what happened.  He staggered over to Tawny, who was sitting on the ground, clutching her ankle.

"Are you okay?" Louis asked Tawny.

"Are _you okay?" she said, grabbing his arm, which contained several bleeding cuts from the rough tree bark._

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Ren?" said Tawny.

Ren rubbed her eyes.  "What?  What happened?"

"Is my house gone?" Tawny asked softly.

Louis just looked at her and slightly nodded his head.

He and Tawny positioned Ren against a tree and she nodded off again.  "When does the Valium wear off?" Louis asked Tawny.

"In two or three hours."  Tawny frowned.  "I'm sorry I did that, Louis.  You wouldn't have gotten hurt if she hadn't been in my house."

"It's okay."  Louis knelt down and touched Tawny's ankle.  She gave a small gasp and pulled away.  "What happened?"

"I think I twisted it or something," Tawny replied.  "I'll be okay."

"Where do we go now?" Louis asked.

Tawny shrugged.  "Where is there to go?"

Just beyond the city of Sacramento everything was okay, Louis thought.  If they could just find his parents and get out and never return to the disaster-torn city...

He shook his head.  His parents weren't coming back.  They would have found him by now.  But he couldn't think about it.  He had to think of Ren, and Tawny, and Donnie, and how they would take care of themselves.  

"So where do you think Twitty is?" Tawny suddenly asked.  "He lives on the other side of the block."

A sinking feeling appeared in Louis' stomach.  "Geez, I don't even want to think about it."

"I wonder if we'll be able to graduate," said Tawny.  "I wonder if they'll even open the school again."

"Of course they will!" Louis shouted.  "This is the United States of America.  The government isn't just going to leave our city a disaster area!  In a few weeks we'll all have forgotten about this whole thing."

"Yeah.  I'm sorry," said Tawny.  "I just don't know what else to do."

Ren woke up awhile later, and she and Louis helped Tawny limp to the police station, where her ankle was bandaged and Louis' arm was tended to.

"We have rescue helicopters coming in," one of the officers informed Louis, Tawny, and Ren.  "They're going to evacuate the city, eventually.  Right now it's too large a rescue mission for any of us to undertake.  This is the worst disaster that's ever happened in this city."

For two nights they slept in the police station with hundreds of other people whose houses had been destroyed.  Then Donnie joined them, drugged up on sedatives so he wouldn't be able to attack Louis again, and they sat in silence, each of them trying to block out their thoughts.

Tawny's parents came on the third day.  Her mother was crying and in shock, and her father couldn't stop hugging her and looking at her, just to make sure she was alive.

"We have nowhere to live," Mrs. Dean gasped.  "Oh, you poor kids," she added, looking at the Stevenses.  "Oh, Louis."  There was nothing more to say.

"This is all a bad dream," Ren kept muttering.  "It's all a bad dream."

"We have to get you kids out of here," said Mr. Dean.  "We're all going to San Francisco and staying in a hotel until the city is rebuilt.  Ren, Louis, Donnie, you can stay with us."

"Donnie and I should go back to school," Ren murmured.

"No, sweetie, don't worry about it," said Mrs. Dean.  "You two come with us and we'll wait for your parents."

Everyone seemed hopeful that Steve and Eileen would come back, so Louis and Ren played along with it.  The six of them escaped to San Francisco and checked into two hotel rooms.

At first everything seemed fine.  Donnie had calmed down a bit and went running every morning.  When he came back from his run he usually offered to run errands for the Deans to replace some of the possessions they had lost in their house.  Then he went out for coffee or worked out at the gym.  At night he went to a bar.  He had to keep busy, and the rest of the group hardly ever saw him.

Ren began corresponding with Michigan State through e-mail and worked out a plan to take college courses online.  She kept herself busy with studying.

Louis sought Tawny for comfort, but he always had a burning jealousy within because Tawny had her parents still.  He and Ren had grown much closer, and they often talked at night, but they never had any conversations of substance.

The Deans both found jobs and began looking for an apartment to move into temporarily.  They tried to act as if Ren, Louis, and Donnie weren't a burden, and desperately tried to find their parents, putting out notices to the community every day.  They were concerned about Louis and Tawny, who hadn't attended school at all while they were supposed to be filling out college applications.  Eventually they accepted the Stevenses as some extension of their family, but the sadness in Louis' and Ren's eyes and the emptiness and despair in Donnie's broke their hearts.

Just before Thanksgiving, a police officer showed up at the door of the Deans' apartment and announced that Steve and Eileen Stevens were presumed dead, since they were unable to be found anywhere and traces of their DNA suggested that they were no longer living.

Mr. Dean walked into the living room, where Ren and Louis were watching TV, and tried to fathom some speech to make.  He couldn't support raising four kids, and there was nothing he could do to help or motivate them.  He would have to tell them not only that they would never see their parents again, but that they would have to find jobs and move out as soon as possible.  As much as it hurt him to do it, he knew that he had to.  Crossing over to the couch, Mr. Dean knelt by Louis, took and deep breath, and prepared to make the announcement.

**It's not over 'til it's over, which it's not...**


	5. Tension

**Earthquake – Part Five**

~* One Week Later *~

Louis packed his last folded shirt into his suitcase and zipped it shut.  He sighed as he looked around his temporary bedroom, which hadn't even been totally unpacked yet.  Now he was leaving again.  He and Ren had decided to go back to Michigan.  They wanted to leave behind the memories of their parents and their old house.  Well, Ren did anyway.  There was still something in California that Louis wanted.  Ren would resume going to classes at MSU and would use the insurance money left by her parents to rent an apartment for her and Louis until she could get a job.  Louis would probably find a part-time job or go to high school at some local school.  Donnie would go back to Sacramento once it was rebuilt, get a job, and live in his own place, or with one of his friends.  He was so distant from his brother and sister that it was like Ren and Louis were a duo and Donnie was an entirely separate entity.

"Hey."  Tawny stood in the doorway of Louis' room, her eyes glazed over.  "You done packing?"  She cautiously took two steps into the room, glanced around, and sniffled, one hand clasped over the other in her best stoic pose.

"Yeah."  Louis nodded and lifted his suitcase off of his bed.

"My dad's a jerk," said Tawny.  "I just wanted to let you know.  He shouldn't have done this to you guys."

"It's okay," Louis told her.  "We can't stay here forever."

"Yeah, I guess."

Louis dropped the suitcase on the floor and took a step forward, throwing his arms around Tawny.  "I love you."

"I love you too, Louis."

"Hey, what's up?"  Ren came into the room and Louis and Tawny turned to look at her.  "Louis, our flight leaves in four hours.  Are you going to be ready to go in about twenty minutes?"

"Yeah, sure.  I'll be right back."  Louis stepped out of the room and back into the living room.  The Deans were out, probably to give Louis and Ren "space."  Or maybe Mr. Dean didn't want Louis to try to reason out a way he could stay, like Tawny had been doing for him all week.

"Thank you so much," Ren told Tawny back in Louis' room, hugging her slightly.  "You have no idea how much I appreciate your parents giving us a place to stay and...and helping us out like this."

"It was no problem."  Tawny brushed a tear from her cheek.  "You guys will write, right?"

"Oh, definitely," Ren assured her.

Tawny plopped down on Louis' former bed.  "I can't believe you guys are just leaving.  It's like that time I thought you were going to D.C."

"Yeah."  A pang stung Ren's chest as she thought about how her mother had almost won that election a few years back.  She visualized Eileen Stevens for the first time since her death as a whole person.  She had been trying not to see her mother's face, but now it all came rushing back to her.  The friendly smile, the inquisitive eyebrows.  Ren clutched at her chest, unable to breathe for a second.

"Are you okay?" Tawny asked her.

"I'm fine."

"I guess I just took the fact for granted that you guys would be here, I don't know, forever."  Tawny forced a laugh.  "I guess that's pretty stupid."

"I used to think it was," Ren replied, "until I learned that sometimes hope is what gets you through life."

Tawny chuckled.  "I never imagined you'd go into After-school Special mode."

Ren smiled through tightly-closed lips.  "Well, Louis and I really should go..."

"Can I just, you know, have a few minutes with him?" Tawny asked.

"Go ahead.  I'll get our stuff together while you two say good-bye," said Ren.

Tawny set next to Louis on the living room couch.  "How you doing?"

"How do you think?"  Louis was biting his lip, his hands folded under his chin.  He turned to Tawny, his eyes filled with hurt.

"I'm sorry," Tawny said again, not really sure what she was supposed to do.

"My...my parents are _dead," Louis said.  His lip trembled and a tear spilled from his eye.  He angrily wiped it away.  "You don't know what it feels like to one day have them there and then they're just...they're just gone, Tawny, they're...and my brother isn't even here anymore, and now I have to move across the country...it sucks, Tawny."_

"I know," Tawny said softly as Louis buried his head in her shirt.  She patted his hair and did everything she could to not cry.  She couldn't break down in front of Louis when it was her turn to comfort him.

"I hate them!" Louis screamed, standing up.  "I hate this stupid city!  I wish I just hadn't spent the night at your house that night and I would have been dead with them.  Might as well be."  He fought to scream through his tears and his mounting anger.  Something burned in him that he had never felt before.  It was the most intense pain ever.

"Don't say that," Tawny whispered.

Ren crept out of Louis' room and stood behind the doorway to the living room, silently crying for her brother.  She wished there were something she could do for him, but if they stayed here she knew that the memories would be too much.

"No."  Louis gripped his face.  "I can't go without you, Tawny."  He stood in front of the window curtains and yanked them forcefully across the windows in anger.  "I hate this!"

Then Ren stared, shocked, at what Tawny did next.  Or at least what she thought she was doing.

"Louis."  Tawny's voice suddenly came strongly from behind him.

Louis wiped his face with his shirt and turned around slowly to find Tawny on one knee on the floor.  Slowly, he walked over to her and she reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Louis, you don't have to do this," said Tawny.

"Yes," he replied.  "I..."

Panicking, Ren grabbed the two suitcases and stepped into the room.  "Louis," she said quietly, "we have to go."

"Louis."  Tawny grasped Louis' hand more tightly.  "I love you so much.  And you have to take me seriously when I say this..."

"Louis," Ren repeated more sternly.

Louis placed his hand over Tawny's.  Surprisingly, he felt something cool and metal slipped onto his finger.

The lock clicked in the doorway and Mrs. Dean opened the door and stepped into the room behind Tawny.  Ren dashed over to her, trying to stop her from seeing the scene that was unfolding.

Louis nodded confidently at Tawny and swallowed, his eyes brimming with tears.  But this time, he wasn't so sad.

"Louis."  Tawny's eyes echoed Louis and filled with water.  "Will you marry me?"

**I think I'll have one more chapter after this one...**


	6. Healing

**Earthquake – Chapter Six**

"Flight 108 departing for Lansing, Michigan is now boarding."

Ren chewed her lip as she sat in the leather airport seat.  Part of her wanted to just sit there and never leave.  Was she really going back to Michigan to continue on with her life, or was she just running away from her whole life?  She had spent her entire life in Sacramento, and then she had planned to flee to an Ivy League school when she turned eighteen.  Because she was convinced her life would be perfect then.  She was the perfect student with perfect grades and now she would have an untarnished reputation.  But she hadn't gotten into Harvard, or Yale, or Princeton.  She was heartbroken, but she had been accepted to Berkeley and University of Michigan.  Since she wanted to go to an out-of-state college and be a journalist she chose Michigan.  And then she began getting C's in most of her classes.  It was something new to her, and she gave up after only one quarter and transferred to Michigan State, because she liked Michigan, and it would have been too painful for her to go back to Sacramento and live with her parents again.

"Why am I doing this to myself?" Ren said aloud.  Michigan was her home now.  Sacramento was just a place where broken dreams lay scattered over every aspect of her life.  In Sacramento she had found the rejection letters, placed neatly in her mailbox.  In Sacramento she had buried her head in her pillow and cried for a week straight, refusing to go to school.  In Sacramento she had been dumped by her boyfriends.  In Sacramento she had watched Larry Beale brag in the cafeteria about getting accepted to the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania.  An Ivy League school.  And she had called Sacramento from Michigan just a few weeks ago and received the news from Louis that Tom Gribalski had gotten an early acceptance to Oxford University in London to study physics at the oldest and best university in all of Europe.  And Sacramento had killed her parents.  Everything bad had happened in Sacramento.

"God."  Ren buried her head in her hands and sobbed.

"Excuse me, miss, are you all right?"

Ren looked up to see a gentleman placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," she said.  "I'm fine."

It was a few hours earlier.

Mrs. Dean walked in the door, carrying groceries.  Tawny quickly rose from her knees and sat down heavily on the couch.

"Honey, could you help me put these groceries away?" Mrs. Dean asked.

Tawny glared at her mother for a second and then stomped off to her room.

Louis twisted the metal ring on his finger.  It looked expensive, at least a few hundred dollars.

"Is she all right?" Mrs. Dean absentmindedly asked Ren as she opened the kitchen cupboard.

"Uh, yeah, she's fine," Ren replied, "I think she's just upset about Louis having to leave."

"Well, naturally," said Mrs. Dean, "but she's known about it for awhile now.  I thought we had given her time to get used to it."

Louis followed Tawny into her room.  She slammed the door shut behind him and sat down on her bed.  Then she looked up at him expectantly, her eyes shining.

"I love you so, so much," said Louis, grasping both of Tawny's hands.  "I can't believe you would do this for me."

"I don't know what it means."  Tawny shrugged.  "It was just...something I had to do.  Even if you go away, at least you have that commitment."  She smiled.  "You'll have to come back eventually."

"But I want it," Louis told her.  "I want it now.  I want to be with you forever."

"Where will you live?" Tawny asked.

"I don't know.  With Donnie or something."

"Don't give him that stress," Tawny said flatly.

Mrs. Dean tapped on Tawny's door and then stepped inside abruptly.  "Louis, your sister is waiting for you."

"Mom," Tawny pleaded, "don't do this."

"Tawny, I'm sorry, but he has to go.  You know that.  He's no longer our responsibility," Mrs. Dean reasoned.

"You're a psychiatrist!"  Tawny rose so that she was even height with her mother.  "Shouldn't you know the trauma that the loss of a family member causes on someone?  Give Louis time to grieve, for God's sake!  Don't just send him away like he's not your problem.  He is!  He's a part of me."

"Oh, don't speak to me like that, young lady," said Mrs. Dean.  "You're eighteen years old.  You have no idea what it's like to be in love."

"Maybe I don't," Tawny whispered, "but this is the closest I've ever gotten and it's the closest I'll ever let myself get if I can't have Louis.  I'll never love anyone else the way I love him.  I hurt every time I even think about him."

"Then you'd better learn to deal with it on your own and stop giving me this teenage angst crap," said Mrs. Dean.  "Now Louis, get out of here.  You're keeping your sister waiting."

"I don't care!" Tawny screamed.  "Louis and I are engaged.  We're getting married.  Okay?  Forget college, forget everything else, we're going to live together here or somewhere else where we'll be happy!"

"Engaged?" Mrs. Dean repeated.  "Engaged?  What do you think you're talking about?  Do you have an engagement ring?"

Tawny grabbed Louis' wrist and shoved his hand into Mrs. Dean's face.  "I spent all of the money I was saving to buy a car on this.  All of it!  Don't you think that's commitment?"

"Oh, for the love of God, Tawny!" Mrs. Dean yelled.  "No, I don't call it commitment, I call it stupidity.  And do you know what causes it?  Hormones!  You're not really in love with this clown, you just fool yourself into thinking you are because you want someone to love, and you want someone to want you!"

"Shut up!" Tawny shouted, tears streaming down her face.  "Get out of my room!  You don't know what I want!"

"Tawny."  Louis put his arm around Tawny's shoulders.  "Shh."

Tawny nestled her head into Louis' neck and kissed him.

"I'll take you two to the airport when you're ready," Mrs. Dean told Louis in a more even tone.  "You can take as long as you want.  If you miss the flight I'll buy you tickets for the next plane out."

"It's all right," Louis said when Mrs. Dean had left.  "Tawny, what if...what if you come with us?"

"No."  Tawny shook her head.  "Louis, we've discussed this.  Come on.  I don't belong in Michigan."

"Why not?" Louis asked.  "Just for a few years?  I'll get a job.  I'll get some money.  We can move back here, even, once we can afford it."

"It would never work," said Tawny.

"Why?  Tell me why it couldn't."

"I just..."   Tawny turned away.  "I couldn't live with Ren, okay?  It would be like we were all just siblings or something.  I just want it to be us.  Partners.  Soul mates."

"You can't live your dreams right away, Tawny," said Louis.

"I know," said Tawny.  "But, look, I...my parents...I belong here.  And I think you do too.  And I don't want to ruin our relationship by doing something crazy and stupid like moving more than halfway across the country and having to adapt to a whole new situation.  I know it would tear us apart."

"So would a long-distance relationship!" Louis argued.

Tawny kissed him again.  "I know."

Ren entered the room quietly.  "Louis," she said, "it's time to go.  Now."

"Thank you.  I'm okay now," Ren told the gentleman at the airport, shaking her head slightly.  She tried to smile and he backed away and got in line for the line.

Ren joined the line, wheeling her suitcase behind her.  She handed her ticket to one of the flight attendants and glanced briefly toward the gate.  Louis and Tawny were waving to her.  Ren raised her hand back at them in acknowledgement and turned away to board her flight.

"Hey, you ready?" Tom's voice echoed behind Louis and Tawny.

Tawny turned around and playfully punched Tom in the shoulder.  She turned to Louis.  "You ready?"

"Yeah," said Louis, "I think I am."

"Mother's country house is just beautiful," said Tom.  "I think you're really going to love it a lot.  It's two thousand square feet and it's on an acre of land.  Oh, and of course there's the complimentary driver's service that will take you to and from the city anytime you want.  But you will be able to pay for that, won't you?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Tawny agreed.  "He's getting a full-time job, and I'll work on weekends until I graduate."

"Excellent," said Tom.  "Well, we mustn't keep Mother waiting.  Come along, comrades."

Tawny slipped her hand into Louis' and smiled excitedly at him.  He brushed a hair out of her face and stroked her cheek, mouthing "I love you."  Tawny mouthed it back to him.

"So how does your mom afford all this stuff?" Tawny wanted to know as Tom led her and Louis outside.

"I'm not really supposed to divulge the information," said Tom, "but it's family money, mostly.  Mother's side of the family is rather affluent."  He chuckled.

"Hey."  Louis turned around as he heard an airplane taking off.  "That's Ren's plane.  It has that weird green sticker design on the side of it, remember?"

"Yeah," said Tawny.  "I hope she writes to us from Michigan."

"Of course she will.  She's Ren," said Louis.

Tom craned his neck to look at the plane.  "It's a beauty," he remarked.

Tawny squeezed Louis' hand.  "It is, you know that?  It really is."

The three of them stood still for a moment and watched the plane disappear into the clouds.

**The End!**


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